September 21st, 2004
To Georgia and Back Again
The trip to Geogria was great – especially considering the length of the drive in relation to how short the trip was overall. We drove down friday night after much debate about the road conditions due to the impact of Hurricane Ivan on the muddy mountains of West Virginia and then drove home Sunday afternoon. Total time driving: apx 18 hours. Total time awake in Georgia: apx: 18 hours.
As you may recall, we went to Georgia to watch the Marshall -vs- Georgia football game. Georgia won 13-3. The score doesn’t really illustrate how well their defense dominated the game. Plus, Georgia probably should have scored at least two more touchdowns had they not made mistakes near the endzone. However, I take heart in the fact that Marshall held the #3 team in the nation to 13 points! Hopefuly this bodes well for our swan song in the MAC.
Lisa’s elder sister, Jane, watched the girls for us and seed to really enjoy the opportunity to see her neices. It was very cool of her to take care of them so we could go to the game.
On the way down we passed 2 outlet malls that we have shopped at in the past and, I thought, we had agreed to avoid on the way home. However, Lisa tried to be slick and pull off at the exit for one of them. Fortunately for our bank account she stopped at the wrong exit – there was only a chocolate store outlet not an entire mall. After that stop Lisa regained her composure and we avoided the outlet malls when we did encounter them.
As you can imagine a 9 hour drive with two children under the age of four (3 years and 9 months) could be a very trying experience. Hell, I get antsy sitting around that long so you can’t blame a kid for not having the patience. Typically, Shannon and Emily are both very good in the car – but 9 hours seemed like a lot to ask of them both. In a proactive effort to alleviate the strain of he trek Lisa borrowed a small portable DVD player/screen from her friend Sara. Initially, I was opposed to the idea. I mean, really, how much TV do we already let our kids watch without force feeding it to them while they are strapped in the car. However, Shannon really seemed to appreciate the opportunity to watch some classic Disney movies and was great for both legs of the trip.
The DVD player had absolutly no bearing what-so-ever on Emily. Her seat faces the wrong way, she doesn’t really watch TV per se, and, in general, she just sleeps most of the time she is in the car anyway. This trip was no different in that regard and overall both girls were absolutly fantastic for the entire journey. Therefore, I concede to Lisa that the DVD player was, and is, a good idea for LONG trips. I would prefer that it were not in the car, but in storage, when we aren’t on long trips, but if she really wants to get one for future use I wouldn’t be opposed to the idea anymore. I’m so weak.
Overall, it was a great trip though I’m not sure I would be willing to go so far for such a short period of time again. It was really nice getting to see Jane, Mick and the boys; plus the change-up from our normal daily routine was a welcome relief in a wierd way. I think both Lisa and I needed the opportunity to get out. So thanks go out to my boss Mike who gave us the tickets!